Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh should eagerly prefer regionalism to multilateralism to reap benefit of rapidly shifting global trade dynamics, said analysts.
They said, the global trade dynamics is shifting into the South and South East Asian regions, creating an opportunity for Bangladesh to boost its trade and investment with the regional countries.
“Bangladesh has a unique geographical location that can make it act as a bridge between South and South East Asia. An enhanced regional economic cooperation and trade and investment promotion activities amongst the countries of the regional can help it to fully explore and exploit this,” Dr Zahid Hussain, the lead economist of World Bank Dhaka office told The New Nation on Saturday.
He added: Apart from this, developing a smooth rail, road and sea connectivity with the regional countries is necessary to reap the benefit of regional economic cooperation.
If we look Bangladesh’s geographical location, we can see that 50 per cent of the global consumers are living in its 3000 kilometer radius. It could be a huge market for local products if we can successfully penetrate the regional markets with application farsighted trade and investment policy, he said.
“We can easily grab a significant portion of such consumer market through bilateral trade and investment agreement with the countries of Asian region. We should look for regionalism than multilateralism for our sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the region,” he mentioned.
Dr Zahid Hussain further said, Asian economic powers including China, India and Korea are keen to invest in Bangladesh considering its strategic location and cheap labour. If we can develop necessary infrastructures and restore a long-term political environment, there may be billions of investment.
When asked, he said, Bangladesh’s trade with its regional partners remained low over the year due to lack of proper policy and action, non-tariff barriers and connectivity limitations.
“We should try to consolidate and enhance our bilateral relations with the neighbouring countries when they are also attaching a lot of importance to us due to our geographical location,” said Prof Mustafizur Rahman, a trade specialist and executive director of center for policy dialogue.
He said, Bangladesh should look for strengthening its ties with India, China, Myanmar and other SAARC countries as part of its efforts to pursue the regionalism to ensure the best possible economic outcome.
Commenting on multilateralism, he said, “We have bitter experience on such trade negotiation under the WTO. The lengthy trade negotiation process is yet to reap any benefit for Bangladesh.”
Prof Mustafizur Rahman, however, said that no matter the multilateral negotiation initiative is yet to bear fruits for Bangladesh, and it should simultaneously look forward for the opportunities at the regional level trade negotiations through SAPTA, SAFTA and BIMSTEC to open more windows of trade and investment promotion activities.
The ongoing regional negotiations and their positive outcome can create a stronger platform for export growth of Bangladesh towards south east, central and eastern Asia, he opined.
In this context, he stressed on removing administrative bottleneck, capacity building of the service providers and local industries, product diversification, proactive policy and connectivity with the neighbouring countries.
Bangladesh should eagerly prefer regionalism to multilateralism to reap benefit of rapidly shifting global trade dynamics, said analysts.
They said, the global trade dynamics is shifting into the South and South East Asian regions, creating an opportunity for Bangladesh to boost its trade and investment with the regional countries.
“Bangladesh has a unique geographical location that can make it act as a bridge between South and South East Asia. An enhanced regional economic cooperation and trade and investment promotion activities amongst the countries of the regional can help it to fully explore and exploit this,” Dr Zahid Hussain, the lead economist of World Bank Dhaka office told The New Nation on Saturday.
He added: Apart from this, developing a smooth rail, road and sea connectivity with the regional countries is necessary to reap the benefit of regional economic cooperation.
If we look Bangladesh’s geographical location, we can see that 50 per cent of the global consumers are living in its 3000 kilometer radius. It could be a huge market for local products if we can successfully penetrate the regional markets with application farsighted trade and investment policy, he said.
“We can easily grab a significant portion of such consumer market through bilateral trade and investment agreement with the countries of Asian region. We should look for regionalism than multilateralism for our sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the region,” he mentioned.
Dr Zahid Hussain further said, Asian economic powers including China, India and Korea are keen to invest in Bangladesh considering its strategic location and cheap labour. If we can develop necessary infrastructures and restore a long-term political environment, there may be billions of investment.
When asked, he said, Bangladesh’s trade with its regional partners remained low over the year due to lack of proper policy and action, non-tariff barriers and connectivity limitations.
“We should try to consolidate and enhance our bilateral relations with the neighbouring countries when they are also attaching a lot of importance to us due to our geographical location,” said Prof Mustafizur Rahman, a trade specialist and executive director of center for policy dialogue.
He said, Bangladesh should look for strengthening its ties with India, China, Myanmar and other SAARC countries as part of its efforts to pursue the regionalism to ensure the best possible economic outcome.
Commenting on multilateralism, he said, “We have bitter experience on such trade negotiation under the WTO. The lengthy trade negotiation process is yet to reap any benefit for Bangladesh.”
Prof Mustafizur Rahman, however, said that no matter the multilateral negotiation initiative is yet to bear fruits for Bangladesh, and it should simultaneously look forward for the opportunities at the regional level trade negotiations through SAPTA, SAFTA and BIMSTEC to open more windows of trade and investment promotion activities.
The ongoing regional negotiations and their positive outcome can create a stronger platform for export growth of Bangladesh towards south east, central and eastern Asia, he opined.
In this context, he stressed on removing administrative bottleneck, capacity building of the service providers and local industries, product diversification, proactive policy and connectivity with the neighbouring countries.
